Cheese from Milk of Sheep, Fresh or Processed Consumption by Country

In 2023, Greece had the largest reported food supply of fresh or processed sheep's milk cheese, at 154,635 tonnes, accounting for 22.8 percent of the 678,351-tonne total. Spain ranked second with 75,240 tonnes, followed closely by China at 74,811 tonnes. Greece also led in per-capita supply, at 41.36 grams per person per day. These FAO figures measure food available for human consumption, not the amount people actually ate.

Italy placed fourth at 73,760 tonnes, with Syria fifth at 61,451 and France sixth at 59,570. Niger placed seventh at 35,196 tonnes, with Türkiye eighth at 33,580, Iran ninth at 15,822 and Afghanistan tenth at 11,485. The top three held 44.9 percent of the annual listed food supply total, and the top five 64.8 percent. Greece had the highest listed food supply, while Greece also had the highest per-capita food supply.

• Nigerien sheep cheese grows: up 3,694 tonnes, or 11.7 percent, entering the top ten.
• Syrian sheep cheese grows: up 2,912 tonnes, or 5.0 percent, firming fifth place.
• Belgian sheep cheese grows: up 736 tonnes, or 14.2 percent, the fastest listed gain.
• French sheep cheese thins: down 5,010 tonnes, or 7.8 percent, the deepest latest-year loss.

Cheese from Milk of Sheep, Fresh or Processed Consumption

Export

Excel (.xlsx) CSV Document PDF Document PNG Image

#	Country	2023 (tonnes)2023	2023 (grams per person per day)2023
1	Greece GR	154.64K	41.36
2	Spain ES	75.24K	4.3
3	China CN	74.81K	0.14
4	Italy IT	73.76K	3.4
5	Syria SY	61.45K	7.14
6	France FR	59.57K	2.46
7	Niger NE	35.2K	3.69
8	Türkiye TR	33.58K	1.05
9	Iran IR	15.82K	0.48
10	Afghanistan AF	11.49K	0.76
11	Jordan JO	8.88K	2.13
12	Austria AT	6.6K	1.98
13	Bulgaria BG	6.3K	2.54
14	Yemen YE	5.98K	0.42
15	Belgium BE	5.92K	1.38
16	Bolivia BO	5.87K	1.31
17	Portugal PT	5.77K	1.52
18	Moldova MD	5.33K	5.68
19	Iraq IQ	5.32K	0.38
20	Slovakia SK	3.63K	1.8
21	Romania RO	3.36K	0.48
22	Sweden SE	2.94K	0.76
23	Ukraine UA	2.88K	0.21
24	Morocco MA	2.46K	0.18
25	Lebanon LB	1.98K	0.94
26	Mongolia MN	1.96K	1.57
27	Cyprus CY	1.55K	3.15
28	Oman OM	1.4K	0.76
29	Israel IL	1.3K	0.38
30	Serbia RS	1.28K	0.52
31	Albania AL	942.77	0.92
32	Ecuador EC	595.31	0.09
33	Croatia HR	200	0.14
34	Azerbaijan AZ	145.12	0.04
35	Hungary HU	92.89	0.03
36	Congo CG	56.56	0.03
37	Poland PL	43.73	0
38	Malta MT	30.52	0.16
39	Senegal SN	2.18	0
40	Chile CL	1.99	0
41	Mauritius MU	0.61	0
42	Cameroon CM	0.5	0
43	Libya LY	0.15	0
44	DR Congo CD	0.09	0
45	Rwanda RW	0.07	0
46	Czech Republic CZ	0	0
47	Ethiopia ET	0	0
48	Gabon GA	0	0

France Records the Largest Annual Decline

France lost 5,010 tonnes between 2022 and 2023, down 7.8 percent to 59,570 tonnes. Türkiye lost 4,812 tonnes, down 12.5 percent. Jordan shed 2,175 tonnes, down 19.7 percent. Niger added 3,694 tonnes, up 11.7 percent. Syria added 2,912 tonnes, up 5.0 percent. Belgium added 736 tonnes, up 14.2 percent. The 44 countries present in both years eased from 687,308 tonnes to 678,290 tonnes, down 9,018 tonnes, or 1.3 percent, with four arrivals carrying 61 tonnes.

Syria Leads Five-Year Gains

Between 2019 and 2023, the 42 countries present in both years rose from 674,209 tonnes to 678,290 tonnes, up 4,081 tonnes, or 0.6 percent. Syria added 13,882 tonnes, up 29.2 percent. China added 7,966 tonnes, up 11.9 percent. Spain added 5,340 tonnes, up 7.6 percent. Türkiye lost 21,146 tonnes, down 38.6 percent. France gave up 5,580 tonnes, down 8.6 percent. Italy shed 4,110 tonnes, down 5.3 percent. One country left with nothing, against six arrivals with 62.

Greece Leads Both Total and Per-Capita Supply

Greece ranked first in per-capita sheep cheese supply at 41.36 grams per person per day, well ahead of Syria at 7.14 grams and Moldova at 5.68 grams. Spain ranked fourth at 4.30 grams, followed by Niger at 3.69 grams and Italy at 3.40 grams. Cyprus, Bulgaria, France, and Jordan completed the next four positions described here. Greece was the only country to lead both the total-volume and per-capita rankings.

What the Sheep Cheese Data Measures

Fresh or processed sheep cheese for human consumption is recorded in tonnes and daily grams per person for each reporting country over 2019-2023. Annual totals sum reporting countries only.

The dataset reports food supply for fresh or processed sheep's milk cheese in tonnes and grams per person per day for each reporting country. Total tonnage measures the reported amount available for human consumption, while the per-capita figure adjusts that amount for population size. These indicators describe food availability, not confirmed individual intake. In 2023, Greece ranked first by both total and per-capita supply.

Cheese from Milk of Sheep, Fresh or Processed Consumption by Country

Download

Excel (.xlsx) CSV PDF PNG

#	Country	2019 (t)	2019 (g/cap/d)	2020 (t)	2020 (g/cap/d)	2021 (t)	2021 (g/cap/d)	2022 (t)	2022 (g/cap/d)	2023 (t)	2023 (g/cap/d)
1	Greece	154.69K	39.54	154.87K	39.66	155.9K	40.37	156.68K	41.23	154.64K	41.36
2	Spain	69.9K	4.04	70.3K	4.04	72.16K	4.14	74.95K	4.29	75.24K	4.3
3	China	66.85K	0.13	69.5K	0.13	73.06K	0.14	75.03K	0.14	74.81K	0.14
4	Italy	77.87K	3.55	72.76K	3.33	74.44K	3.41	74.1K	3.41	73.76K	3.4
5	Syria	47.57K	6.4	58.44K	7.61	58.25K	7.38	58.54K	7.14	61.45K	7.14
6	France	65.15K	2.72	66.92K	2.78	68.69K	2.85	64.58K	2.67	59.57K	2.46
7	Niger	34.65K	4.14	35.86K	4.14	30.87K	3.45	31.5K	3.41	35.2K	3.69
8	Türkiye	54.73K	1.76	39.61K	1.26	41.14K	1.3	38.39K	1.21	33.58K	1.05
9	Iran	13.53K	0.43	15.54K	0.49	16.16K	0.5	16.51K	0.51	15.82K	0.48
10	Afghanistan	10.14K	0.73	12.28K	0.86	9.85K	0.67	11.64K	0.79	11.49K	0.76
11	Jordan	8.17K	2.1	7.47K	1.88	6.96K	1.72	11.05K	2.69	8.88K	2.13
12	Austria	5.48K	1.69	6.47K	1.99	6.55K	2	6.23K	1.88	6.6K	1.98
13	Bulgaria	6.59K	2.59	7.21K	2.85	6.88K	2.74	7.25K	2.91	6.3K	2.54
14	Yemen	5.6K	0.44	4.71K	0.36	6.17K	0.46	5.88K	0.42	5.98K	0.42
15	Belgium	4.18K	1	4.81K	1.14	5.54K	1.31	5.18K	1.22	5.92K	1.38
16	Bolivia	5.84K	1.37	5.88K	1.36	5.93K	1.36	5.92K	1.34	5.87K	1.31
17	Portugal	6.61K	1.75	6.03K	1.59	5.38K	1.42	6.52K	1.71	5.77K	1.52
18	Moldova	3.99K	4.18	4.36K	4.65	5.6K	6.08	5.56K	6	5.33K	5.68
19	Iraq	5.22K	0.4	5.25K	0.4	5.27K	0.39	5.29K	0.38	5.32K	0.38
20	Slovakia	3.3K	1.66	3.39K	1.7	3.4K	1.71	3.47K	1.74	3.63K	1.8
21	Romania	3.85K	0.54	5.32K	0.75	3.63K	0.52	3.51K	0.5	3.36K	0.48
22	Sweden	2.89K	0.77	3.19K	0.84	3.1K	0.81	2.65K	0.69	2.94K	0.76
23	Ukraine	3.73K	0.23	3.68K	0.23	3.73K	0.23	3.1K	0.21	2.88K	0.21
24	Morocco	2.52K	0.19	2.55K	0.19	2.59K	0.19	2.53K	0.19	2.46K	0.18
25	Lebanon	1.88K	0.89	1.87K	0.9	2.01K	0.96	2K	0.95	1.98K	0.94
26	Mongolia	2.48K	2.1	2.36K	1.96	2.12K	1.74	2.59K	2.1	1.96K	1.57
27	Cyprus	746.5	1.59	850	1.79	940	1.96	895.15	1.84	1.55K	3.15
28	Oman	1.41K	0.84	1.43K	0.87	1.36K	0.83	1.38K	0.8	1.4K	0.76
29	Israel	1.09K	0.34	1.15K	0.36	1.21K	0.37	1.22K	0.37	1.3K	0.38
30	Serbia	1.23K	0.48	1.05K	0.42	1.14K	0.46	1.02K	0.41	1.28K	0.52
31	Albania	1.16K	1.1	1.09K	1.04	1.08K	1.03	1.01K	0.98	942.77	0.92
32	Ecuador	692.82	0.11	672.82	0.11	572.06	0.09	589.26	0.09	595.31	0.09
33	Croatia	190	0.13	250	0.17	288.1	0.2	220	0.15	200	0.14
34	Azerbaijan	150.7	0.04	148.3	0.04	149.44	0.04	149.4	0.04	145.12	0.04
35	Hungary	91.16	0.03	92.89	0.03	91.16	0.03	86.54	0.02	92.89	0.03
36	Congo	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	56.56	0.03
37	Poland	56.64	0	53.68	0	50.66	0	43.72	0	43.73	0
38	Malta	0	0	18.94	0.1	26.04	0.14	24.5	0.13	30.52	0.16
39	Senegal	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2.18	0
40	Chile	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1.99	0
41	Mauritius	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0.61	0
42	Cameroon	0.34	0	0.01	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	0
43	Libya	-	-	-	-	0.03	0	0.78	0	0.15	0
44	DR Congo	2.79	0	0	0	0	0	4.11	0	0.09	0
45	Rwanda	-	-	0	0	-	-	0	0	0.07	0
46	Czech Republic	0	0	0	0	0	0	7.54	0	0	0
47	Ethiopia	0.02	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
48	Gabon	0.97	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
49	Kazakhstan	-	-	1.77	0	-	-	-	-	-	-
50	Ghana	0	0	1.9	0	0.58	0	-	-	-	-
51	Sierra Leone	-	-	0.02	0	-	-	-	-	-	-

Methodology

FAO Supply Utilization Accounts report food supply in tonnes (element 5141) and grams per person per day (element 665) for fresh or processed cheese from sheep's milk over 2019-2023. Percentage changes use the earlier year's value as the base; percentage changes from zero are not calculated. After aggregate rows are excluded, the dataset covers 51 countries, of which 48 have reported values for 2023. Comparisons include only countries with reported values at both endpoints. The 2023 total of 678,351 tonnes sums the countries with reported values for that year. Reported zeroes are retained, blanks are treated as missing, and values below 1,000 tonnes retain two decimal places.